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A magnificent colour photograph of Churchill and his senior military staff taken on 7 May 1945, the day Nazi Germany announced “unconditional surrender” to the Allies.

Winston Churchill with his chiefs of staff in the garden of No. 10 Downing Street on the day Germany surrendered to the Allies, 7 May 1945. Seated left to right: Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham. Standing left to right: Secretary to the Chiefs of Staffs Committee Major-General L C Hollis and Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence General Sir Hastings Ismay. Photo and caption (c) by the Imperial War Museum.

USA SUBSEQUENTLY HONORS CHURCHILL by BESTOWING ON HIM HONORARY AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP

“ON APRIL 9th, 1963, a deeply moved Sir Winston Churchill, sitting in his London home with his wife beside him, watched a satellite relay of a White House ceremony giving him honorary United States citizenship.” You can read more about this at a great website about Churchill:

….Whenever and wherever tyranny threatened, he has always championed liberty…..In the dark days and darker nights when England stood alone–and most men save Englishmen despaired of England’s life–he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. The incandescent quality of his words illuminated the courage of his countrymen….

By adding his name to our rolls, we mean to honor him–but his acceptance honors us far more. For no statement or proclamation can enrich his name now–the name Sir Winston Churchill is already legend. Source http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9145

Official Proclamation by President of the United States of America John F. Kennedy bestowing honorary American citizenship of Winston Churchill after authorization by Act of Congress.

THE PROCLAMATION

Whereas Sir Winston Churchill. a son of America though a subject of Britain, has been throughout his life a firm and steadfast friend of the American people and the American nation; and

Whereas he has freely offered his hand and his faith in days of adversity as well as triumph; and

Whereas his bravery, charity and valor, both in war and in peace, have been a flame of inspiration in freedom’s darkest hour; and

Whereas his life has shown that no adversary can overcome, and no fear can deter, free men in the defense of their freedom; and

Whereas he has expressed with unsurpassed power and splendor the aspirations of peoples everywhere for dignity and freedom; and

Whereas he has by his art as an historian and his judgment as a statesman made the past the servant of the future;

Now, therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, under the authority contained in the act of the 88th Congress, do hereby declare Sir Winston Churchill an honorary citizen of the United States of America.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-three, and of the in-dependence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-seventh.

In a tragic irony of history, President Kennedy was assassinated less than eight months hence on 22 November 1963. He was 46.

Winston Churchill outlived Kennedy by more than 14 months and died on 24 January 1965 (aged 90).